Free agency not great for Saints: Nick Riewoldt

Sports writer with The Age

Nick Riewoldt: "I think if we can fix equalisation and then as a side issue, I think free agency will become a lot better." Photo: Getty Images

As St Kilda takes the formative steps in its rebuild, skipper Nick Riewoldt admits free agency has not been kind to the Saints and hopes equalisation will help give all clubs a greater chance to lure marquee names.

The merits of free agency are again in focus, with Geelong coach Chris Scott calling for the system to be scrapped after it emerged the Cats were strongly chasing Melbourne free agent James Frawley.

Riewoldt says he understands the need for the system which has given more power to players but, for the Saints, it has resulted in the defections of stars Brendon Goddard and Nick Dal Santo.

Goddard accepted a big contract from Essendon, while the Saints and Dal Santo last year mutually agreed to not enforce a trigger clause in his contract, meaning he could cross to the Kangaroos as an unrestricted free agent.

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The Saints used their Goddard compensation pick on ruckman Tom Hickey, who is regarded as one of the club's building blocks, while the Dal Santo compensation was also used on a ruckman, Billy Longer.

"No, it hasn’t been great for us at all. We have lost two really strong players for the club and with the compensation – it all depends on how you use it but I understand the need for it," Riewoldt said.

"I think if we can fix equalisation and then as a side issue, I think free agency will become a lot better. At the moment, the strong clubs seem to be benefiting really strongly from free agency, but if equalisation is done right then I think everyone will get a chance to benefit from that as well."

Riewoldt said he did not direct any anger towards Goddard when he joined the Bombers after the 2012 season.

"Not angry as I understood Brendon’s reasons for leaving and, at the same time, I sort of understood part of where the club was coming from as well," he said.

"Brendon’s a great mate of mine and, in the end, I said: 'Look, as captain of the football club and a leader of the club, I really want you to stay but, as a mate, you’ve got to do what’s best for you'. It’s been good for him and, hopefully, down the track it’s proven to be right for the footy club as well."

The PA pointed out that there have been only seven instances where players have left their club to join a rival that finished in the finals in the previous season: Clinton Young (Collingwood), Danyle Pearce (Fremantle), Jared Rivers (Geelong), Colin Sylvia (Fremantle), Matt White (Port Adelaide), Lance Franklin (Sydney) and Quinten Lynch (Collingwood).

Equalisation measures outlined to club chief executives last week mean that St Kilda, the Brisbane Lions, Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne and Port Adelaide will be the key winners of a revenue-sharing pool of about $3 million.

In an interview with Sunday Age columnist Matthew Lloyd, Riewoldt said his priority with equalisation would be "that all clubs can pay a 100 per cent of the cap. I think that’s number one".

A revolutionary ‘‘banking’’ system introduced this year that allows clubs that spend less than the salary cap limit to use that money and exceed the cap in subsequent years could also help the Saints.

Despite a degenerative knee, Riewoldt remains one of the league's premier forwards, so much so that Eddie McGuire attempted to lure him to Collingwood last year. It wasn't the first time Riewoldt could have left the Saints.

"When the Gold Coast were coming in, there was a bit spoken about me going there. We were halfway through a season, 2009, where we’d eventually play in the grand final, so it wasn’t that hard a decision to re-sign, and I’m glad I did," he said.

"I never had a dollar figure put on the table or anything but my manager at the time told me it would be significant, but that’s really as far as it got."